Chapter 52
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I'll purchase divine power with money.
Chapter 52
"Hey, you know me, right?"
Instead of answering, Jeremy's gaze drifted downward to the jeweled box sitting squarely on my bare abdomen.
Then he lifted his head again and met my eyes.
"...."
"...."
"...Blockhead."
A low but thin voice echoed quietly through the prison.
Victoria standing beside me clenched her lips tightly.
"It couldn't be helped. That was the only way to subdue someone trying to kill me."
"You hit him twice even when he was unarmed."
"...."
Victoria, if you find it that hard to hold back, just go outside and laugh it off. Your lips will be torn to shreds at this rate.
"Fine, I did hit him multiple times. But I won't apologize. It was all necessary."
"Yeah, I know."
I opened my eyes wide at his unexpectedly docile response.
Jeremy, still bound by chains at his limbs.
His face held not a trace of anger, irritation, or shame. Only an endless calm and serenity.
"You know?"
"Yeah. I was unconscious, but I was also conscious."
Ah, I see.
Though he was being controlled by the Sea God while stripped of his will, he remembered everything.
"I remember you saving me too."
"...."
When I didn't answer, Jeremy watched my expression and hastily changed his form of address.
"...You? Or you? ...Ah, Holy Maiden."
Yes, he's reading my mood. This was truly an unexpected situation.
"Every time the Holy Maiden hit my head with that box, my self-awareness grew a little stronger. That's why I'm leaving it like this even now."
Jeremy gestured with his eyes toward the jeweled box resting on his abdomen.
I thought he was treating the thing that shattered his skull like a sacred relic, but it seems he'd figured out it was a golden rope.
"But what helped the most was the Holy Maiden's divine power. I remember everything—how you coughed up blood trying to save me."
Jeremy carefully bowed his head to me, making sure the jeweled box wouldn't fall.
"Thank you."
With his limbs bound as they were, it was the best gratitude he could offer.
"And I'm sorry for attacking you. But I wasn't actually trying to assassinate you. Could we clear up that misunderstanding?"
And he stammered on....
What's this? The kid looks a bit dazed. Wasn't he supposed to be the taciturn type protecting the heroine's back in the original story?
Why does he seem so dim-witted now? Did I hit his head too hard?
"If it wasn't assassination, what was your intention?"
While I struggled to find words due to the discrepancy with the original story, Seth asked instead.
He still hadn't lowered his guard, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword.
"Just kidnapping. My mission was to abduct someone who knew the details of what was happening at the Sun God Grand Temple."
"Isn't kidnapping a crime?"
"...I'm sorry for trying to kidnap you."
Jeremy apologized again with a thoroughly dejected expression.
When he was being controlled by the Sea God and had no expression, I felt no guilt no matter how much I struck him, but now I felt terribly guilty—like a terrible adult bullying a child.
Especially since his clothes were torn and his hair was caked with blood.
"First, what's your name?"
"Jeremy Carls."
I nodded at the name I'd expected.
"Right, Jeremy. What do you think of the Sea God?"
This was the critical moment.
Victoria, who had lowered her guard somewhat, and Seth, who still watched Jeremy coldly, both listened intently.
His answer would determine his fate....
"A greedy bastard who doesn't know how to be satisfied?"
....
....
....
What?
"A foul-tempered tyrant!"
....
"...A, a brutal and merciless brute."
Jeremy's voice, which had been shouting confidently, gradually diminished. He watched our faces, unable to say anything more.
"Also, also...."
He was trying desperately to continue, sensing that we weren't satisfied.
It seemed he'd misunderstood the intent of the question.
"No, I was asking whether you revered the Sea God as your deity...."
"How could I revere garbage?"
Jeremy cut in before I could finish speaking.
It was the fastest reaction I'd ever seen from him. Even when he was being controlled by the Sea God, he hadn't shown such speed.
His sincerity was so overwhelming that even Seth, who never let his guard down, was taken aback.
"I can certainly tell you hate the Sea God very much."
"How could I like such a bastard? A creature who said he'd crush me until I stopped resisting."
Ah, I see now.
Why the Jeremy from the original story and the Jeremy before me are different.
The Jeremy from the original story had been crushed by the Sea God for much longer.
Over the course of a year, experiencing far more terrible things, his personality in the original story was formed.
Just as it had been with Lute Sheary.
Thinking about it again, saving Lute Sheary and Jeremy was my best decision.
"So you wouldn't want to return to the Sea God?"
"Of course not. I'd rather stay locked up here than go back there. ...But could you at least give me some clothes?"
Jeremy's eyes drooped sadly at the thought of remaining naked. For the first time, I felt guilty about stripping him of his garments.
"Alright. I'll make sure you're fed too."
"Thank you."
Jeremy bowed his head respectfully.
I gazed quietly at his violet hair, matted with blood and sweat, grimy and disheveled.
Then I spoke in a hushed tone.
"If you make one promise with me, I might even let you out of here."
"Holy Maiden."
Seth Noel called out to stop me, his voice carrying an obstinate resolve—relieved that Jeremy wouldn't return to the Sea God, yet unwilling to release him.
I raised my hand to silence Seth Noel and turned to Jeremy.
"Don't you want to completely leave the Sea God Temple and become a follower of the Sun God?"
"...What?"
"I'm asking if you'd consider completely abandoning the Sea God you despise so much. Right now."
Seth Noel and Victoria Lawrence were taken aback by my demand.
To devout followers with noble faith, asking someone to forsake their god seemed rather extreme.
But what did it matter? The Sea God wasn't the deity we served, and Jeremy hated him enough to call him trash.
"I'm just not fond of gods in general."
Jeremy showed reluctance, having suffered so much at the Sea God's hands.
My expression brightened.
"Then abandoning the Sea God wouldn't be a problem?"
"I'd do it if I could. But the curse still remains in my body, so I can't escape it."
Even after I poured out divine power so dramatically, a curse still lingered in him?
【Jeremy Carls' body still retains 50% of the curse. Your current divine power cannot dispel the remaining curse.】
Half.
All I managed to erase while facing the threat of death was merely half.
And I'd even used the Eternal Extinction God's divine artifact to do it.
No, wait. Had I actually managed to erase half of a god's power with such meager divine essence?
"Did you just say curse?"
Seth Noel asked then, his blue eyes trembling intensely.
"The divine power of the Sea God that you're carrying—you're calling it a curse?"
Yes, the truth about divine power that only I knew.
"I told you. The god crushed me for my defiance. He wrapped his divine power around my body and manipulated it, using it as he pleased."
Jeremy laughed mockingly at Seth Noel, who was loved by the god in contrast.
"Can't even choose death freely—what else would you call that but a curse?"
Seth Noel and Victoria Lawrence fell silent.
Seth Noel, who had argued that anyone with divine power should be executed immediately, would be most shocked.
Before the atmosphere grew even more grave, I stepped forward.
I stepped in before the atmosphere got any more serious.
"But that curse won't last forever either. After all, I've already stripped away half of it using the power of two other gods."
I patted Seth Noel's shoulder and looked at Jeremy.
"If I keep working at it, the day will come when you're completely freed from the curse."
"Saint."
"...Of course, I've expended so much divine power that I can't lift it immediately right now."
Don't look at me like that, Victoria. I'm already feeling the need to recover my strength.
Besides, even if I wanted to exhaust myself to break the curse, I lack sufficient divine power.
I'll attempt it again once my divine power grows stronger.
For that, I'll need a tremendous amount of money.
"Jeremy. Now that you've experienced this, you understand—I, the Saint of the Sun God, can break your curse. So you wouldn't want to leave my side, would you?"
"Of course not. Honestly, I'm fine staying locked up here."
"Don't you have any interest in giving those Sea God bastards who tormented you a good smack across the back of the head?"
Jeremy's eyes widened. Seth Noel and Victoria Lawrence stared at me as if wondering what I was plotting.
What am I plotting?
"I also have considerable grievances against the Sea God's faction for daring to send an assassin—or rather, a kidnapper—after me. I don't want to sit idle and do nothing about it."
So let's put on a little performance together.
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org